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The studies of Mehrabian and Russell (1974), (researchers in the field of environmental psychology), have been instrumental in spreading the idea that the environmental features at the point of sale cause emotional reactions that lead to behavior that is hard to explain from a cognitive standpoint. For this reason, merchandising implementation plays a key role, since its aim is to provide an appropriate store atmosphere and display products in a way that encourages buying activity. This paper investigates the effects of merchandising factors on retail sales. The study was carried out in two types of stores: experimental -- where merchandising factors were employed, and control -- where the design features of merchandising remained unchanged. The analysis of the results confirmed the income effect. The increase in revenue can be an indicator that merchandising factors have an influence on the consumer's store choice criteria and his/her behavior within a determined sales environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated how the changes in human density in stores affect the consumers' perception of crowding and satisfaction. Two experiments were conducted to test how shoppers behave in different levels of store crowding, moderated by the variables: familiarity, acumen towards the store aesthetics, and consumers' income. The moderation tests indicated that while higher familiarity reduces the negative responses to crowding, higher levels of aesthetic acumen have an opposite effect. The results indicated non-significant differences in consumers' responses between the low and medium stores human density levels, but showed a substantial increase of negative responses between the medium and high density level. The results indicated non-significant differences between lower and upper income responses. This paper brings not only managerial suggestions, but offers a significant contribution to a better understanding and integration of conceptual frameworks about the crowding phenomenon, and suggests many avenues for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retailers face a complex task in formulating prices strategies. While the goal of pricing is to lay down a general course of action, pricing methods are procedures which enable organizations to make their pricing decisions. The scope of this paper is to explore retail pricing goals along with the methods that are employed for pricing, and to investigate whether the methods employed succeed in achieving the objectives. It was found that the companies used in the sample are basically pursuing quantitative rather than qualitative objectives and that they lay emphasis on achieving sales and making profits by following market developments. Another significant factor was that, the firms in the sample seemed to attach less importance to customer-oriented methods and employ the traditional methods of costing, probably due to their simplicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1980s brought an alternative view to the positivist predominant current in consumer research field: Consumer Culture Theory (CCT), which assumes an epistemological orientation based on interpretivism and qualitative research. Given the prominence achieved by CCT it's raised the follow question: Consumer Culture Theory can be considered an autonomous marketing school of thought? Guided by three fundamental criteria for qualifying a school of thought (academic recognition, body of knowledge and contributions), a desk research was conducted, based on journals and papers in the field and in a research corpus built from the references included in the seminal text Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty Years of Research. Conclusion is that CCT meets the criteria adopted in this research and, thus, can be considered an autonomous marketing school of thought within the field of consumer research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study analyses the strategy of fast food industry firms to enter new markets. We investigate the attributes of cities that attract firms in this industry, and how firms from different chains interact with regard to their entry decisions. We found that firms adopt a me-too strategy: once a firm has entered an unexplored market, the others tend to also enter this market. The hypothesis of this paper is that there is some uncertainty regarding a certain market's potential, and the entry of one firm signals to others that this potential is high. Gains from discovering and entering a new, high-potential market fade quickly with the entry of the following firms, which gives a temporary advantage to the pioneer firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The controllability principle posits that managers should be evaluated based on controllable factors. Consequently, managerial incentives might be related to managerial accounting practices able to avoid that managers will be accountable for financial results beyond management control, such as analysis by responsibility center, standard-cost, transfer pricing, budgeting and performance evaluation. This paper develops a field research to investigate whether there is a relation between the presence of managerial incentives and managerial accounting practices associated with the controllability principle. On-site interviews were conducted to collect data at the organizational level and nonparametric statistical tests were used for data analysis. Among the managerial accounting practices examined, the results suggest that only the annual budget, analysis by responsibility center and performance evaluation are associated with the presence of incentive systems in the sampled firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The labels and certificates are a response from the retail to consumer's needs for enhanced monitoring of quality and food safety. There are several types of labels found in retail, some are specific to the attribute related to the origin of the product and others attest various intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics. Among labels of products marketed by a supermarket network in Brazil is the Guarantee of Origin (G.O). In order to assess the perception of consumers, 120 customers were interviewed in supermarkets in the region of Campinas and Piracicaba-SP, that had GO products. By means of factor analysis, four important dimensions were identified: food safety; intrinsic quality of product; different production system; and governmental verification. In relation to the origin and sustainability attributes, values such as prestige, credibility and respect were considered relevant. The paper presents contributions in the methodological and theoretical fields, helping a better comprehension of these consumers' perceptions about these attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the correlation between firm´s financial and social/environmental performance for Brazilian companies from 2001 to 2007, based on two types of panel data econometric models, which aim to analyze correlation and causality. The fixed effects model was used to estimate correlation, while a panel data IV model was used to investigate causality. The results show a positive correlation between corporate social/environmental and financial performance, mainly in the case of internal social investment, which is strongly positively correlated with the variable return on assets (ROA). The causality analysis also showed that the internal social investment has a positive and significant effect on ROA. This result is in accordance with those obtained by Laan et al (2008), which indicate that disregarding the wishes of the primary stakeholders (employees, consumers and investors) contributes negatively to performance measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the intergovernmental coordination of the Bolsa Família Program (PBF), given its goal to tackle poverty in a country with deep social and regional inequality. It seeks to qualify the debate on the centralization of cash transfer programs in Brazil through the analysis of intergovernmental relations adopted under the three main dimensions of the PBF - cash transfer, monitoring of conditionalities and articulation of complementary programs considering the federative implications derived from the intersectoral perspective that drives the Program. Two categories of challenges are highlighted. The first one relates to the need for greater investment in space and opportunities for intergovernmental negotiation, especially in the dimension of income transfer, which initially was characterized by centralization. In the second, the intergovernmental matter demands the organization of a coordinated national strategy for the articulation of complementary programs, suggesting greater involvement of states in the regional coordination of the Program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at discussing which rationality types may orient contemporary artistic practice. This objective emerged from a research made in Grupo Galpão, a twenty-eight years old theatre group from Belo Horizonte. As we entered into the research locus, by documental analysis, non participant observation and interviews, the rationality issue became a prominent theme to be discussed considering contemporary art production. By means of discourse analysis elements, we could identify in artists' discursive practices meanings about art-making, sometimes related to instrumental rationality and to surviving in the market of cultural goods; and sometimes, on the other hand, were related to substantive rationality and to practices oriented by ethical or esthetical ideals. By the end, despite of economic pressures from the cultural industry context, we understand that authentic art is intrinsically a transcendent practice and keeps moments of freedom and assertion of out-of-the-ordinary life values [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze what extent the location inluences the internationalization process of Brazilian companies. From ive models of internationalization, that key concept is cross compared to explain the empirical analysis of the cases. The research is characterized by its longitudinal approach and methodological procedures based on the adaptive theory. Data analysis was performed in two stages: descriptive and the method of constant comparison, both using ATLAS/ti software. Based on the concept properties, four signiicant events emerged, with distinct dominance over time: trends, and comparative locational advantages (transactional and comparative) and disadvantages. The results show that the comparative advantages were decisive for the start of the internationalization and boosted the trends in the region. Transactional beneits are present in later stages, acquired through the opening of subsidiaries abroad. Locational disadvantages were also perceived throughout the whole process due to unforeseen chance events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on readings of Horkheimer and Adorno, authors of the so-called first generation of Frankfurt School, the text socializes understandings regarding critical ontology, epistemology and methodology aiming to contribute with the practice of critical research within the Frankfurtian tradition in the management field. The paper sets off with ontological discussion to substantiate the Frankfurtian epistemological perspective. It then introduces critical epistemological dimensions and suggests three dialectic categorical pairs for understanding reality: naturalization versus history, system versus social praxis, alienation/domination versus emancipation. The text discusses methodological issues and concludes socializing an example of critical research within the Frankfurtian tradition in management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The service quality construct has been thoroughly researched in the Marketing literature in terms of antecedents, consequents, and dimensions. However, research in electronic service quality lacks accomplishments, as do some definitions and dimensionality tests. In such a context, this paper analyzes the perceived service quality in the electronic retail and correlates it with three marketing constructs. The sample contains people who already had bought services in electronic retailing; a snow-ball survey sample with 515 people was conducted. Results demonstrate that service quality is represented by fulfillment, privacy, system available and efficiency. From the four service quality dimensions, the privacy factor had major impact on loyalty, commitment and trust. The other dimensions were also positively associated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyze the factors that determine the environmental management strategies of industrial companies from Santa Catarina. Primary data were obtained from a questionnaire replied to by 88 companies and quantitatively analyzed by means of multiple correspondence analysis. The study showed that the internal factors that determine environmental management strategies were employee commitment and managerial support and the external factors were society demands, government regulations, adjustment to normative standards and competition. The research also indicates there is a mimetic process which the most proactive companies are still unable to avoid, denoting that there exists a degree of homogeneity in these companies' interpretation of the institutional environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to research the association between the management accounting attribute structure and the existence of the balanced scorecard (BSC) in the Brazilian companies. The research used the management accounting attribute structure developed by Chenhall and Morris (1986) and improved by Moores and Yuen (2001). Considering this association, the research tried to identify companies' characteristics of the ones that implemented or are in the processing of BSC implementation and analysed the possible reasons of its rare usage. It was possible identify significant relationship between BSC implementations and management accounting attributes profile in three of the four defined groups. The knowledge of this research is useful due to the potential orientation that it could provide for management in the requirements and structural conditions for BSC usage reducing the risk of failure and improving the implementation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the evolution of five electricity distribution companies in the Northeast of Brazil using technical and financial indexes. Three privatized and two public firms were analyzed between 1997 and 2008. The financial indexes are related to the profitability and firm's capacity of generating value for its shareholders, while the technical indexes are related to the quality of the service provided. Two propositions are developed suggesting that privatized firms had their financial and technical indexes improved after privatization when compared to the public firms. We observed the privatized firms had their financial indexes improved after the privatization, increasing their value for the shareholders. However, it was not possible to observe evidence that privatization affected the quality of service provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigated the relation between subjectivity and work safety in the maintenance sector of a large mining company. It was found out that the experience with a mutual help group might be used as instrument to improve work safety. A mutual help group called Programa Hoje Não (Today-No Program), made up of 35 workers from the maintenance sector was studied. The methods employed were interviews following the models of work psychodynamics and psychosociology, besides work clinic and ergonomic work analysis. Due to the techniques of "Today-No Program", the number of accidents was reduced to figures never reached in eleven years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There still is a scarcity of studies examining the dynamics of the accumulation of innovative capabilities. This paper examines such issue in eight software companies in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, finding that: there were inter and intra-company differences in terms of speeds of capability accumulation for specific technological functions; younger companies have accumulated capabilities more rapidly; speeds of capability tended to decrease as companies accumulated more innovative levels of capabilities, offering a prospect for the acceleration of the innovation process. Such evidence is to deepen our understanding of the firm-level technological accumulation process,= and provide some notion of the time needed to obtain the benefits from efforts on learning and innovative capability building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the factors affecting the implementation of a strategy within the hospital environment. Such strategy is the implementation of the Quick Response Team in hospitalization units, pursuing quality and safe services to the patient. The choice was based in the analysis of a strategy rendering positive results to the studied institution. A qualitative exploratory research was used, being a single case study within a private hospital located at Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. In-Depth interviews and Causal Cognitive Maps were applied. The research results have shown that the differential factor determining the implementation success of the Quick Response Team was the human component. The studied process was also successful due to the confluence of multiple factors, which have become facilitators to assure such a success. As an academic contribution, the Cognitive Mapping brings an opportunity to better understanding the hierarchic levels when thinking about the strategy process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no doubt about the importance of service quality as a factor of businesses' success, but to measure this quality has proved to be a challenge when one considers different environmental contexts. Given this, the main goal of this paper was to test two measurement scales of perceived service quality. The comparison between Service Quality scale (Servqual) and Retail Service Quality (RSQ) was conducted by means of a survey with 351 participants, clients of a home center stores chain located in the city of São Paulo. The data were analyzed using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. As a result, both scales demonstrated acceptable levels of reliability and validity. However, the RSQ demonstrated a better performance in the nomological test since it was able to explain 43% of the loyalty towards the retailer, while the Servqual scale explained only 11%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the theme of consumer experience in the physical environment offered by service companies. The research evaluated the influence of design characteristics on the perception of value by customers of self-service retail purchases. We identified the consumer purchase values and the design characteristics perceived in the context of self-service retail, regarding lay-out, signage and illumination in the environment. The applied method was a cross-sectional survey, with a sample of 274 undergraduate students, who manifested their perceptions of three different self-service bookstores, illustrated with photos. The results pointed out to four design characteristics with significant influence on the formation of value of the consumer's purchase from both the functional and hedonic perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the voluntary disclosures of relevant information on the websites of a sample of 282 non-financial Bovespa-listed publicly-quoted companies. Based on the relevance of the corporate information (financial and governance) assessed by the information intermediaries and that provide the basis for constituting weighted disclosure indices the results suggest that there is more disclosure: i) the bigger the firm is and the bigger the return on company shares; ii) in companies that have a special type of corporate governance; iii) for those categories of corporate information that are more requested by the rating agencies and by stock brokers; iv) in companies with larger debts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to identify the existence of significant differences between Brazilian publicly-quoted and private companies as far as concerns the conservative nature of their financial statements. The exploratory and descriptive research was based on a sample of 1,384 company years, with 770 observations relating to private companies and 614 to publicly-quoted companies, for the period 2000 to 2004. The Ball and Shivakumar (2005) model was used, which allows conservatism to be analyzed by means of the reversion of accounting results. The results obtained are evidence that in private companies there is less likelihood of recognizing losses opportunely and because of this their financial statements are less conservative than those of publicly-quoted companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents empirical tests for investigating the occurrence of over-reaction and under-reaction phenomena in the Brazilian stock market. It is proposed that a model based on the theory of fuzzy sets, which bears a strong relationship to representativeness and anchoring heuristics, as established in the theory of behavioral finance, should be used for these tests. The proposed model is used to form portfolios and uses the financial indicators of publicly-quoted companies. Two lots of shares were used for the analyses; one from the oil and petro-chemical sector and the other from the textile sector; the financial indicators for the period 1994 to 2005 were used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the trust that clients have, both in the salesman and in the company, and the product's perceived quality and value as being the antecedents of satisfaction with high value purchases, such as the purchase of a residential property when only the plans exist. A theoretical proposition was developed and tested, using data from the Brazilian real estate market and structural equation modeling. The results indicate that satisfaction with the real estate broker has an influence on the trust placed in her/him, but that previous experiences and the characteristics of brokers in general have no impact on this variable. It was also detected that the product's perceived value and trust in the broker and the homebuilder have an influence on the satisfaction with the purchase, but not on the perceived value of the product. The implications of the results for research and marketing management, more specifically in the field of real estate marketing, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the flow of information and material throughout a four-level fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) supplychain. We propose that, under certain circumstances, the coordination of information and material flows along the supply chain should be done by the distributor, in an arrangement called Distributor-Managed Inventory (DMI), a significant departure from the more traditional concept of Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI) model, in which the aforementioned coordination is done by the manufacturer. We analyze the DMI from both the strategic and the economic perspectives and we also analyze its dynamic behavior by using a numerical simulation model which was built for this specific purpose. We demonstrate that the DMI model has advantages over VMI for the management of this four-level supply chain. Our dynamic analysis simulation, for instance, revealed that the DMI model is stable and allowed the studied chain to face increments of 20% of the normal demand level with 55% less inventory at the retail level and 33% less inventory at the distributor level than a reference VMI model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this paper is to examine service recovery under a strategic perspective, as a relationship tool. A theoretical model has been proposed and tested, with focus on interrelationships among specific evaluations of complaint process, trust, switching costs, perceived value, and loyalty. The findings indicate that customer trust and loyalty are affected by the way complaints are resolved. Perceptions of justice affected satisfaction with complaint management. Consumer trust is strongly influenced by post-complaint satisfaction. Finally, both intentions of repurchase and word-of-mouth communication were influenced by trust, satisfaction and perceived value. Switching costs did not moderate the relationships between satisfaction, trust and loyalty, and demonstrated to have low influence on intentions of repurchase. Therefore, the creation of mechanisms that inhibit customers' exit is not enough keep them, and an adequate complaint management may be an efficient tool to develop long-termed relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses country effects on firm performance. Empirical analysis was based on a sample of 83,641 observations and 10,927 firms in 37 countries and 224 industries, in a 10 year time span. A cross-classified 3-level hierarchical linear model allowed the estimation of country, industry and country-industry interaction effects, which had approximately the same relative importance. Altogether, these effects were nearly as important as firm effect. The influence of each specific country on the performance of its firms was also studied and a ranking of countries based on firm profitability was developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has two main goals. First, it provides a comprehensive overview of the existing real options literature and applications, and presents practical principles for quantifying the value of various real options. Second, it takes a first step towards extending the real options literature to recognize interactions with financial flexibility. The comprehensive literature review traces the evolution of the real options revolution, organized around thematic developments covering the early criticisms, conceptual approaches, foundations and building blocks, risk-neutral valuation and risk adjustment, analytic contributions in valuing different options separately, option interactions, numerical techniques, competition and strategic options, various applications, and future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theme of competitiveness has been subject of research in different academic realms, such as economy, strategy, operations management and organization studies. As expected, each of these disciplines deal with competitiveness according to its own perspectives and theoretical background. In this essay, we seek to integrate a number of different perspectives, encompassing diverse analysis' levels. As leitmotiv, we take the competitive capability of Brazilian companies vis-à-vis the present business environment. The paper is based on the current literature. Emphasis is given to studies focusing the Brazilian context. Our main objective is to offer a general framework about competitiveness in the Brazilian context. We also speculate on how Brazilian firms could improve their competitiveness. Finally, we indicate limitations of the study and indicate directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses an intertemporal general equilibrium asset pricing model to study the term structure of interest rates. In this model, anticipations, risk aversion, investment alternatives, and preferences about the timing of consumption all play a role in determining bond prices. Many of the factors tradicionally mentioned as influencing the term structure are thus include in a way which is fully consistent with maximizing behavior and rational expectations. The model leads to specific formulas of bond prices which are well suited for empirical testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper relates two distinct themes: entrepreneurship and ethnicity. They are normally treated by different academic traditions: economists and businessmen deal with the first, while anthropologists, sociologists and historians usually investigate the latter. Due to the recent development of areas like Organizational Culture and Economic Sociology, approximations between these two themes have occurred, allowing a conjoint treatment of them in the field defined as ethnic entrepreneurship. Studies in this new area recognize that many resources and job possibilities for immigrants are available at their own communities, where networks of social capital pervade. More than driving definite conclusions, this work explores some insights in this area, taking São Paulo's historical socio-economic experience as reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article had as an objective to confirm if deferred tax income analysis increases significantly the detection of earnings management. Data were collected for the mining, steelworks, metallurgy and textile industries for the period 2000-2004, through probit and logit analysis established on the Modified Jones and Kang & Sivaramakrishnan models. The paper found evidences that analysis of deferred tax income does not increment the predictive power of the analyzed models. The divergence can be explained because most of the literature on the subject dealt with American firms and industries that supposedly have different incentive factors for earnings management. Further, the differences in Brazilian firms can be originated by the flexible use of the partial method for recognition of tax deferral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the challenges regarding the construction and deconstruction of boundaries and organizational identities in the passage of the order society -- and its notion of boundaries and identities -- to the liquid modernity, based on fluid forms. To illustrate such passage, a case study of McDonald's Corporation is used, presenting the boundaries and organizational identities that it has established since it started as a small drive-in in the USA, until it became one of the most powerful global brands. It is assumed that McDonald's represents the modern society business format, par excellence, of the order, that lasted along the twentieth century, what was determinant for the corporation expansion in the market. However, starting in the 1990's, the Corporation has been criticized by business analysts and has assumed an "image crisis". This paper suggests that such critic to the "McDonalds System" rigidity can be a sign of a broader transformation of the very social format that nourished and supported that fordist-based and standardized market model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In emerging economies, various public programs have been created to stimulate local firms to adopt innovations, with the ultimate goal of increasing rates of economic development. This paper provides a preliminary attempt to identify factors associated with institutional influences in the processes of innovation diffusion in those areas, and proposes some basic associations: between the governmental interventions and the phases of the process of innovation diffusion; between the actions of governments and the forces that stimulate the process; and between the public policies and the characteristics of the institutional environment generally found in emerging economies. The analysis integrates concepts from various fields in the social sciences to offer five propositions, at different levels of analysis, describing various aspects of the potentially strong influence that national governments exert on the process through which innovations are diffused in the institutional environments of the areas known as emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following paper deals with marketing strategy. Specifically, it deals with the development of a theoretical model for marketing strategy formulation and implementation and its contribution to Marketing Theory. The literature about strategy was examined and two strategy making models were used for developing a model presented in this article. Besides combining these two models, an exploratory research was conducted to elaborate an initial structure of an evolutionary model, which was later validated with a group of companies using the results of a Structural Equation Modeling. Analysis of results in this research has shown the significant variables and their connections to build a model of marketing strategy making. This model contributes to the study of marketing strategy because it presents reflections about formulation and implementation considering several strategy views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the question of how resources affect organizational performance. It assumes competence as a bundle of coordinated resources and employs the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) framework to measure and assess how this coordination influences performance indicators all over BSC perspectives. A review effort in this field showed that financial or internal process indicators are the most considered; performance indicators from learning and growth perspectives or studies evaluating simultaneously all performance perspectives are less common. A case study in a Brazilian water company, using firm's data and indicators, pointed external factors related to demand to be the strongest performance determinant; employee satisfaction presented association with all BSC perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]